I went out this weekend solo to a couple of bars. Made 12 approaches total. One of them turned out really good and might end up in a date. Hooray for that.

But I have a question that keeps coming up.

I know that I need to touch the girl (on the shoulder, on the arm, on the back) in order to escalate the interaction and have her start to see me as a potential date/partner/sex.

I also know that you need to build up to a place where touching is okay. You can't just go in there and start putting your hands all over a girl (at least I don't think you can?).

In half of my approaches, they'd die out after 5-7 minutes, and the reason I never touched was because the interactions were average. I wasn't getting any clear indicators of interest.

My question then is: Do you touch a girl right away - not worrying how she'll react - to create interest? And that makes the girl look at you as a potential sexual partner who starts getting more interested in the conversation? Or do you need to look for clear indicators of interest first and then^ start touching?